One Starlit Night
by Lainey
Summary: Matt wanders off in the middle of the night. What will he find? Love?


Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, but I do own Teia.  
  
  
  
  
  
One Starlit Night  
  
  
Teia sat up quickly. She was breathing hard and had to think about why she'd woken up. It must've been a dream, she thought, but couldn't remember what it had been about. Then she heard the sound. The sound of foliage snapping as someone moved away from the little clearing she and her friends had decided to spend the night in.  
  
She scanned the starlit clearing, and counted 24 sleeping figures. That accounted for all the digimon, and most of the humans. One was missing.   
  
Damn! I wonder who it was, she silently said to herself. Well, I may as well go after them. Wouldn't want them falling off a cliff into the ocean or something.  
  
She walked to the path leading from the clearing, all the while trying to decide which of the digidestined would go off alone. She came to the conclusion of Yolei Inoue or Joe Kido.   
  
She silently tracked the stray digidestined in the near dark. She expertly spotted all the signs. It was, after all, what she'd been taught to do for all of her seventeen years. Now that she had left home, she hadn't abandoned the life-long trade, however useless in the modern world. Rather, she practiced as often as possible, and had even begun teaching Matt Ishida to do it, too. That practice often involved games of hide and seek with the other digidestined, with her as 'it.' Having spent a few months with them, she was beginning to know whose track it was that she was onto.  
  
She looked around closely at the tracks of the stray digidestined, and what she saw surprised her. It was neither Joe nor Yolei whom she followed. It was Matt, blond-haired, blue-eyed, always the image of everything that was cool, and a wonderful friend. But why would he come off alone, without even Gabumon to keep him company?  
  
She paused, wondering whether to keep following the rogue boy, or to turn back.  
  
"Boo."  
  
Teia nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned around to see Matt, grinning like a Cheshire cat. In fact, his smile was mostly all she could see in the dark forest.  
  
"Matt, you scared the crap out of me!" she whispered harshly.  
  
Matt laughed. "I know. You didn't even hear me coming." He gently took her arm, and they began walking down the path.  
  
"You're getting better," she admitted as they walked. She smiled broader. "Better than me?"  
  
Matt turned away at the compliment, though she wouldn't have been able to see him blush anyways. "Oh, I doubt it. I just got lucky." He turned to her and laughed again.  
  
"It wasn't that funny," she said, trying to give him a serious look. She failed.  
  
"It was great," he laughed. He turned and ran up the path. She ran after him. The trees thinned, and soon the path ended on a broad, grassy bluff, overlooking the ocean.  
  
He walked up to the edge, and lay down on his stomach, looking at the surf below. She lay down next to him and stared at the far-off clouds that occasionally let the crescent moon shine through. She tried not to look at the boy next to her, lest she accidentally blurt out all she felt for him. She had realized two months ago how much she liked him, in a more-than-just-friends kind of way, and the feeling had grown steadily ever since. Unfortunately for her, he showed no sign of returning those feelings.  
  
"Look," he said quietly, pointing to the water below. She shifted her gaze downward. "The sea is glowing." Each time a wave broke, the froth lit up in a bluish glow. "We read about that in biology, but I never thought it could be so beautiful." He smiled over at her, and she smiled back, indulging in the moment.  
  
He sat up, and she followed. "There is a reason why I lured you off in the middle of the night, you know," he said. A glint of moonlight sparkled off his eyes.   
  
"Yes?" She really didn't care what the reason was, she loved being off alone with him. Especially in the middle of the night.  
  
The boy checked his watch. "This very minute," he paused, looking back up to her face, "is the six-month anniversary of when we met."  
  
"Really?" Teia blinked in surprise. She had kept rough track, but not to the minute. She remembered her first night in the digital world, and smiled at the memory. She blinked away her thoughts and again focused on him.  
  
He wouldn't meet her gaze. He was staring at his lap.   
  
"You okay?" she asked tentatively. He looked up and the moonlight again twinkled off his eyes, off unshed tears. She inhaled sharply. "Matt what's wrong?"  
  
The boy digidestined smiled, trying to blink away the sudden show of emotion. "I've been deciding whether or not to tell you for a while now. When it almost slipped, I knew you'd end up knowing anyways, and I wanted it to be on my own terms." He paused. Teia nodded. It was the first lesson she'd taught him: Try to have everything come on your own terms.  
  
Matt cleared his throat. "Teia, I..........don't think I can do this." He laughed at himself and his eyes dropped to the ground.  
  
"Would it help if you didn't have to look at me?" she asked softly. At his nod, she stood and walked around behind him. She sat. "Go ahead."  
  
***  
  
To Matt, it was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. He'd faced Dark Masters, the Digimon Emperor, and even had to battle his own friends. His heart, however, seemed more than a match for this digidestined.  
  
He looked up from his lap, and out over the ocean. "Teia," he began slowly, "a couple months ago, we all had that pillow fight at Kari's house. I hit you with that pillow and you decided to get revenge." He paused, remembering the event well.  
  
Kari was having a sleepover for all the girls, and the guys all came by to crash it. It had turned into all-out pillow war, and had also been the night Matt began falling in love with Teia. It was difficult not to, with her clad in skimpy pajamas, and letting down her ever-present guard enough o have fun. She had shown him some of her soul, and he craved more like an addiction. Which she was, if he thought about it. He couldn't go more than a few days without seeing her.  
  
Teia's voice broke him from his trance. "Yeah?"  
  
"And you tackled me, and pinned me, ready to beat me for all you were worth," he whispered. He paused again. "And there was that one second where we stared into each other's eyes.......and I knew."  
  
There was a long silence, before Teia asked, "You knew what, Matt?" in an emotion-laden whisper. Which emotion, he couldn't tell without seeing her, so he turned to face her.  
  
"That I was falling in love with you," he stated, knowing he was risking his entire friendship with her.  
  
She stared at him in complete shock for a moment. Her face didn't seem to know which emotion to show, so it went through them all, finally settling on a warm look. It was a look of shared love, and, Matt thought, it looked very nice on her.  
  
"You....? You....?" She stuttered, not seeming to be able to get the words out.  
  
He nodded. "I love you."  
  
She stared in shock all anew. "Do you know how many times I've dreamed of you saying that? 'I love you, Teia.' 'I love you too, Matt.' It was like a nightly theater in my head, and now, now....." She stood, an overjoyed look on her features, and walked about the small clearing, eyes on the stars. Matt stood as well.  
  
She ran over and grabbed his hands. "And now it's happening and I don't believe it!" she whispered excitedly. Her face took on a serious tone as she dropped his hands and slid her arms around his neck. He slid his around her back, holding her body close to his. She stared up into his eyes, a small smile on her face. "I love you, too, Matt." He smiled, and leaned down to kiss her.  
  
  
  
  
The End  



End file.
